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Chapter
5
A selection of disaster
reduction applications
This chapter discusses different applications of disaster risk reduction, as outlined in the
graphic representation presented in chapter 1. These efforts become possible once risk
assessment and institutional capabilities are set in place. The selection of disaster
reduction applications discussed in this chapter serves to illustrate the scope of activities
and applications in the field and highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
5.1 Environmental management
5.2 Land-use planning
5.3 Safe building construction and
protection of critical facilities
5.4 Financial and economic tools
5.5 Early warning systems
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5.1 Environmental management
A healthy environment enhances the capacity of societies to reduce the impact of natural and human-induced
disasters, a fact largely underestimated. As disasters undermine both socio-economic development and
environmental management efforts, there is a compelling need to explore how environmental mismanagement
changes hazard and vulnerability patterns.
Knowledge about natural resources and the use of environmental management should be promoted as a strategy
for reducing risks. Environmental actions that reduce vulnerability need to be identified and applied by disaster
reduction practitioners. Quantitative measurement of these actions will determine their acceptance and
application in political and economic arenas.
Integrating environmental management within existing disaster reduction policy frameworks and international
strategies will build a safer world. National and regional institutions can best increase societies’ resilience to
disasters as part of a global environmental management effort. Instilling disaster reduction thinking into
environmental performance is a positive proposition.
This section will outline the following:
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links between environmental management and disaster reduction;
environmental legislation;
environmental policies and planning;
institutional and organizational arrangements;
environmental impact assessments;
reporting on the state of the environment;
ecological and environmental economics; and
environmental codes and standards.
Links between environmental management
and disaster reduction
The environment and disasters are inherently linked.
Environmental degradation affects natural processes,
alters humanity’s resource base and increases
vulnerability. It exacerbates the impact of natural
hazards, lessens overall resilience and challenges
traditional coping strategies. Furthermore, effective
and economical solutions to reduce risk can be
overlooked.
Practices that protect the integrity of nature and
ensure a wise use of natural resources can provide
solutions to reduce vulnerability from which both the
environmental and disaster communities will benefit.
Although the links between disaster reduction and
environmental management are recognized, little
research and policy work has been undertaken on the
298
subject. The concept of using environmental
tools for disaster reduction has not yet been
widely applied by practitioners.
Hurricane Mitch highlighted in dramatic
fashion the indispensable role of environmental
management in sustainable development and
natural disaster mitigation. Environmental
management tools that make a cost-effective
contribution to reducing vulnerability should be
identified, adapted and adopted.
Environmental management can become a costeffective tool for disaster reduction while serving
many other objectives including conservation of
biodiversity, mitigation of adverse global
environmental changes and poverty alleviation.
Similarly, the Ministry of Natural Resources of
the Russian Federation recognizes its present
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Box 5.1
An eco-museum as a tool for disaster
reduction
The six towns severely affected by the 2000
eruption of Mount Usu, Japan initiated the
development of an eco-museum in order to
focus people’s attention on the damages in
agriculture, forestry, fishery and tourism. The
eco-museum, to be completed in 2005, will
cover the entire affected area. Its aim is to
teach the population how to “live with the
volcano”.
The objectives of the eco-museum include:
• Stimulate tourism and industries in the
region.
• Preserve artefacts and recollections of
volcanic events.
• Teach history, nature and culture of the
area to inhabitants and visitors.
• Introduce disaster reduction activities to
inhabitants and visitors.
• Involve inhabitants in development plans.
• Promote cooperation between
communities.
difficulty to integrate environmental
management in natural disaster reduction
policies especially in water management to
reduce flood risks.
Environmental actions that reduce
vulnerability are seldom promoted in
disaster reduction strategies and usually
appear only as a beneficial but unplanned
side effect. But these activities will add to
the options for disaster reduction. Widely
disseminating examples of their
application to relevant actors will
encourage their use.
At present, environmental management
tools do not systematically integrate trends
in hazards occurrence and vulnerability.
Similarly, disaster reduction practitioners
do not systematically explore the
advantages of using environmental
management tools and approaches. Some
benefit might be drawn from the fact that
environmental tools were developed from
a risk management approach. Indeed
environmental and social impact
assessment processes are geared towards
risk identification in the design of plans
and projects.
The disaster and environment
communities will benefit from efforts to
use similar language and approaches.
Research work on disaster reduction can
benefit from experience gained in
integrating environmental concerns in
decision-making and development
planning. Once tools and policies are
developed, capacities will need to be built
locally to respond to environmental
vulnerability and use environmental
management as a means of reducing
impacts. In this regard, lessons learnt in
the field of women’s use of environmental
resources as it relates to disaster reduction
need to be taken into account.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
and the International Institute for
Sustainable Development (IISD) with the
support of the Stockholm Environment
Institute (SEI) have launched an initiative
to promote the use of environmental
management to reduce the vulnerability of
communities to the growing threat of
climate change and climate-related
disasters. It serves as an important step to
translate the intuitive recognition of the
protective function of natural systems into
useful methods for practitioners.
5
Ecosystems are
interdependent networks
of organisms of a
naturally defined eco-zone
that function as a unit.
Examples include natural
forests, wetlands, deserts,
lakes and mountain
regions. The ecosystem
approach is a strategy for
the integrated
management of land,
water and living
resources that promotes
conservation and
sustainable use in an
equitable way. Thus, the
application of the
ecosystem approach will
help to reach a balance of
the three main objectives
of sustainable
development:
conservation, sustainable
use and the fair and
equitable sharing of the
benefits arising out of the
utilization of resources.
There is a need to put into practice the
ninth principle of the Yokohama Strategy:
“environmental protection, as a component
of sustainable development and consistent
with poverty alleviation, is imperative in
the prevention and mitigation of natural
disasters”.
The protective roles of particular
ecosystems are known. For example,
important wetland functions include
water storage, storm protection, flood
mitigation, shoreline stabilization and
erosion control. These functions are
essential for sustainable development and
decrease reliance on often more expensive
technical alternatives. However, such
benefits from wetlands are under threat
from natural disasters including storms,
drought and floods which will be further
exacerbated by climate change.
Therefore, the relationships between
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Box 5.2
Lessons learnt from Hurricane Mitch
“So far, relatively little is being channelled to attack the root causes of vulnerability, or to contribute to the non-structural
mitigation of disasters through sound environmental management, integrating regional and integrated territorial planning at a
scale that goes beyond individual plots or local communities.
“For these issues to be addressed there is a need to integrate risk management into environmental policy. How do healthy
ecosystems contribute to abating risk? What has been the environmental impact of land concentration, misuse of wetlands
and massive deforestation?
“Finally, the long term environmental security of Central American societies will depend to a significant degree on the
capacity for adaptive and cross-scale in situ management of key buffering ecosystem functions. More applied research is
needed on the linkages between local forest management practices and their effects on hazard mitigation.
“There are encouraging initiatives which seek to contribute to more secure human livelihoods through empowering local
communities to manage risk locally. There is a growing interest in the restoration of key forest ecosystems, geared to
providing local communities with more adapted livelihoods and a secure environment. Mitigation is best applied locally, but
requires adequate linkages into the policy sphere to guarantee the long-term governance of the region.
“The new quadrennial programme proposed by the IUCN, provides a key framework in which to apply these ideas to the
Central American context. The post disaster context is ripe for proposing innovative approaches to disaster prevention and
mitigation.”
Source: P. Girot, World Conservation Union, 2001.
climate change and wetlands deserve more attention
by policy makers.
Wetlands also suffer from increased demand on
agricultural land associated with population growth,
infrastructure development, and river flow
regulations, invasion of alien species and pollution.
Adaptive capacities of ecosystems to absorb sudden
shifts in climatic, geological or biological components
are key features in increasing disaster resilience. In
this regard, traditional societies have great adaptation
capacities to cycles of environmental change.
Living with flood strategies are cost-effective,
relatively easy to implement and more compatible
with the environment, and can more easily be
incorporated in long-term development planning at
little extra cost.
Global environmental issues and
disaster reduction
Solutions: reforestation, adaptation
programmes, disaster preparedness, early
warning.
Loss of biological diversity
Consequences: loss of natural resources and
diversity, interfering with essential biological
functions such as regulation of water runoff,
control of soil erosion, loss of resilience to
disturbances and environmental change.
Solutions: conservation and restoration
(forestry, agriculture, coastal zone
management).
Freshwater degradation
Consequences: water quality and scarcity,
droughts, health risks, economic impact of land
degradation on water resources, increase in
floods associated with poor land use.
Solutions: water resources management, landuse management.
Climate change
Consequences: extreme weather events, changes in
boundaries, structure and functioning of ecological
systems (forests), food security, water availability, sealevel rise.
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Desertification and land degradation
Consequences: improper resource use, food
security, loss of ecosystem productivity.
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Box 5.3
Environmental systems contribute to disaster
reduction and security
Maintaining and rehabilitating resilient environmental
and social systems form key building blocks for disaster
reduction and security. The fire and smoke episodes of
1997-1998 in South-East Asia, the Russian Federation,
the Americas and the Mediterranean helped focus
attention on an increasing problem. These episodes
were associated with the extreme drought caused by
the El Niño event which created conditions for the
escape and spread of uncontrollable wildfires.
While some fires were deliberately set to cover up
illegal logging, many were intended to convert forest to
other land uses. Small farmers, plantation and timber
companies, government settlement schemes and
subsidy policies were all responsible to some extent of
the resulting losses and damages. Better knowledge
and monitoring are necessary to distinguish wellbalanced natural fires beneficial in maintaining land-use
systems from those fires which adversely affect local
communities’ livelihoods and habitats. Basic structural
improvements, accompanied by legislative, economic
and technical improvements are needed to make
physical infrastructure, natural and human systems and
water management more resilient.
Solutions: early warning and drought
preparedness and management, alternative
livelihood programmes, sustainable land and
natural resource management programmes,
natural environment and development planning.
Forests play an important role in protecting
against landslides, erosion, floods and avalanches.
They also safeguard against drought. As shown in
Switzerland, continuous care given to forests
including rejuvenation, careful diversification of
species and structural stability ensure an optimal
protective role, and also save money from
disruptions caused by natural hazards.
The Yangtze River floods in 1998 showed the
consequences of the loss of healthy ecosystems. As
a consequence, the Chinese government banned
logging in the upper watershed and increased
reforestation efforts and prohibited additional land
reclamation projects.
China carries out flood prevention and water
resources protection as a means to lessen the
impact of landslides and floods. In southern parts
of France wetlands restoration is used as a means
to reduce flood risks linked to decreasing
agricultural practice. Related projects involve
methodological development and evaluation,
taking into account complex environmental and
social fluctuations. Barrier islands, reefs and
mangroves contribute significantly to the
mitigation of hurricane risks, storms and tidal
surges.
Sound watershed management that combines the
protection of parks, reforestation, sustainable
forestry and agricultural practices is critical to
protect downstream communities, agricultural
lands and infrastructure.
Environmental services provided by integrated
watershed management must be recognized
when making policy and investment decisions.
This becomes even more important in light of
the international or interprovincial nature of
river basins.
Environmental legislation
In its chapter on integrating environment and
development in decision making, Agenda 21
notes, “laws and regulations suited to countryspecific conditions are among the most
important instruments for transforming
environment and development into action”.
<http://www.un.org/ esa/
sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/
agenda21toc.htm>
Legislative responses to environmental problems
testify to countries’ appreciation of the adverse
impacts of environmental degradation on socioeconomic systems. Many developing countries
have by now adopted legislation dealing with a
broad range of issues including protection of
water resources or biodiversity conservation.
Framework environmental legislation mostly
deals with cross-sectoral issues. This includes
establishment of environmental standards, the
use of economic instruments for environmental
management, environmental impact assessment
procedures, public participation, education and
institutional coordination.
These statutes and basic environmental laws
helped overcome the organizationally
fragmented and uncoordinated approach to
environmental management.
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The China National
Wetlands Conservation
Action Plan finalized in
2000 is an example of a
specific environmental
legislation supporting
disaster reduction.
Box 5.4
Environmental laws and institutions
• Constitutions (environmental component)
• Institutions (national and sectoral)
• Environmental action plans: national or regional, local (Local Agenda 21), sectoral (biodiversity,
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•
desertification, climate), specific national goals and targets (where available)
Legislation – including environmental acts and laws on environmental impact assessment (EIA)
Command and control measures (standards, bans, limits, permits)
Mechanism for monitoring and enforcing legislation
Non-binding guidelines, voluntary codes of conduct (ISO 9000 and 14000)
Greening operations at governmental level
Environmental litigation and judicial interventions
Mechanisms for tracking impact and progress (environmental performance)
Bilateral and multilateral agreements (e.g. Mekong River Commission, Southern African Development
Community protocol on shared waters, UN Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention to Combat Desertification)
Ratification and implementation of international agreements
Regional environmental and sustainable development bodies and organizations (e.g. South Pacific
Regional Environmental Programme, Caribbean Conservation Authority)
Financial mechanisms
Transboundary environment laws (e.g. concerning international waterways, UN Law of the Sea)
Trade policies (e.g. trade agreements, World Trade Organization policies and regulations on the
sustainability of resource use)
More than 65 developing countries have
adopted such legislation since the 1970s.
A continuing process of legal and
institutional innovation shows a
commitment towards sustainable
development. It also provides a vehicle for
disaster reduction strategies.
National environmental laws provide some
direction for the implementation of
environmentally sound disaster reduction
planning. Ways should be explored to
ensure that environmental laws and
disaster reduction strategies are mutually
supportive.
Disaster reduction specialists should be
encouraged to anticipate environmental
requirements under applicable laws and to
design projects that address these
requirements, coordinating closely with
environmental institutions.
The objective of environmental laws also
could address the requirements of disaster
reduction explicitly by reinforcing the
protection of those natural ecosystems that
have a protective function. In this spirit,
Bolivia is harmonizing its environmental
act with its risk reduction and disaster
response act.
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The existing body of multilateral
environmental agreements provides a good
basis to enhance options for disaster
reduction. Among these are the Ramsar
Convention on Wetland Preservation, UN
Framework Convention on Climate
Change, UN Convention to Combat
Desertification, and the UN Convention
on Biological Diversity. These legal
instruments are negotiated at the
international level but are implemented
through national policies, strategies, action
plans and laws.
Existing legal instruments and ongoing
work with sustainable mountain
development are also pertinent to disaster
reduction. For example, the alpine
convention of 1989 places some emphasis
on natural hazards and addresses land-use
planning, soil and landscape conservation,
water management, forests and farming.
Specific obligations to reduce the impacts
of natural and human-induced disasters,
including land-use planning, watershed
management, and early warning, are
foreseen in future regional mountain
ecosystem agreements.
Disaster reduction goals can also be
integrated into non-binding instruments
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Box 5.5
The World Conservation Union in
Central America
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has worked
throughout Central America to help in risk reduction and
to coordinate with risk specialists in promoting project
activities linked to environmental protection.
The promotion of synergies between multilateral
environmental conventions has led to greater
appreciation of the close relationships that exist
between efforts to promote community adaptation,
resilience to the natural environment and to reduce the
risks of disasters.
A forum organized by the ministry of the environment in
El Salvador in October 2001 was built around these
concepts. It sought to achieve more common
understanding and to explore opportunities by which
adaptation practices could be applied in different zones
of the country.
such as regional strategies for biodiversity. In this
regard, the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD), an initiative to promote
the socio-economic development of Africa,
deserves attention. Its draft programme of action
includes six priority areas: land degradation,
desertification and drought, wetlands, climate
change, cross-border conservation and
management of natural resources.
Environmental policies and planning
As in the case of environmental legislation,
environmental and disaster reduction policies need
to be mutually supportive as part of the sustainable
development agenda.
The critical gap between macroeconomic policymaking and environmental hazard considerations
needs to be addressed. Sustainability and longterm benefits will result from integrating hazard
thinking into decision-making related to
environmental practices.
The characteristics of disaster reduction and
environmental policies are similar. Both must meet
local needs and sustainable development
requirements and produce multiple benefits. Both
rely on extensive participation of the public,
relevant sectors and stakeholders.
Designing a national environmental action plan is
a standardized process that is widely used. Some
of the features of integrated environmental and
disaster reduction policies include:
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assessment of environmental causes of hazards
occurrence and vulnerability;
assessment of environmental actions that can
reduce vulnerability;
assessment of the environmental consequences
of disaster reduction actions;
consideration of environmental services in
decision-making processes;
interdisciplinary approaches that will ensure the
use of natural and social sciences in disaster
reduction planning and decision-making;
partnerships and regional approaches to land
use and nature conservation;
reasonable alternatives to conflicts concerning
alternative uses of resources; and
advice and information to involve actors in
enhancing the quality of the environment.
Water policies such as water pricing and
hydropower regulation offer examples of
environmental policies with beneficial impacts on
disaster reduction. They can be designed to
promote the sustainable use of water and allow
adjustments depending on seasonal forecasts, in
order to avoid floods.
Water policies promote work to be undertaken on
wetlands, floodplains and open spaces to store or to
facilitate runoff. Furthermore, flood and drought
risk management are increasingly looked at in the
context of water resources and therefore depend on
effective international water management.
Policies promoting sustainable management of fuel
wood and the development of alternative sources
of energy can reduce deforestation and contribute
to controlling flood, avalanche and landslides.
Programmes undertaken as a result of
commitments under international biodiversity,
climate change and desertification conventions will
also reduce vulnerability through enhanced natural
resource management. In this regard, it will be
important that climate change response measures
in the energy sector take disaster vulnerability into
account.
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Box 5.6
Disaster reduction strategies – tools to adapt to climate change
The risk reduction process provides a framework for selecting the best strategies to deal with those aspects of climate
change that create or increase a risk to infrastructure, operations, economies or populations. It is a decision-making tool that
assists in the selection of optimal or the most cost-effective strategies, using a systematic, broadly accepted public process.
Disaster reduction offers a way to address some of the economic, social, political, technological and institutional constraints
to realize the full potential of adaptation to climate change.
Reducing vulnerability to today’s climate variability and hazards is an opportunity for no-regrets adaptation to climate change
that addresses extreme events. Mutually beneficial and no-regrets risk reduction measures include:
early warning systems, seasonal climate forecasts and outlooks;
insurance and related financial means;
building codes, designs and standards (construction on stilts, redesign of oil rigs);
promotion of renewable energy sources as mitigation and vulnerability reduction options;
land-use planning including relocation incentives;
flood-resistant agricultural practices;
water management including regional water-sharing agreements, drainage facilities, flood prevention;
environmental management (beach nourishment, mangrove belts, wetland and watershed protection, forest and
agricultural land management);
• coastal zone management; and
• disaster management precepts, upstream vulnerability reduction, information, awareness, networking, reducing
uncertainty for decision-making.
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The disaster reduction community should take advantage of the body of knowledge existing in the climate change
adaptation community. It should also translate its policies and measures for use by that community. Recognition of the
inherent links between climate change and disaster reduction will eventually benefit practitioners in both fields.
The disaster reduction and climate change policy agendas cannot remain separated. Therefore several activities, such as
the side events conducted in conjunction with meetings on the climate change convention (New Delhi, October 2002 and
Bonn, June 2003) have been initiated by the ISDR Secretariat, to bridge the gap between the two communities.
At the Bonn meeting, the concept of a multi-stakeholder process to assess and report on the linkages between disaster
reduction and climate change was launched. The involvement of disaster reduction scientists in the next Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change assessment in 2007 is also being promoted.
Key partners in these activities include: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change; the Netherlands Red Cross Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness; the Dialogue on
Climate and Water; ProVention Consortium; the IUCN/IISD/SEI project on climate change; vulnerable communities and
reinsurance companies, and the World Climate Impacts Programme.
The relationships between market prices, trade
policies and the environment are complex. Trade
policies based on sound environmental
consideration can also contribute to reducing
disaster impacts.
National environmental policies can increase
communities’ resilience by encouraging voluntary
contributions and other social contracts. Leasing
land, placing it in trust, land-use covenants and tax
incentives are some mechanisms that can promote
natural capabilities to reduce vulnerability.
The following examples illustrate how several
countries and regions in the world include natural
disaster reduction in national environmental action
plans.
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One of the ten programmes, Haiti’s national
environmental action plan deals with natural
disaster management. It is based on a decentralized
and participatory approach to planning that
includes NGOs, the private sector and bilateral
and multilateral donors.
Jamaica gives very high priority to climate change
and sea level rise and natural disasters in the
implementation of the Small Islands Developing
States (SIDS) programme of action.
The Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global
Climate Change, funded by the Global Environment
Facility and executed by the Organization of
American States, is one of the most important climate
change initiatives in the Caribbean.
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Box 5.7
Environmental management and hazard
reduction integration
Although the Dominican Republic’s national
environmental policy reform does not explicitly address
natural hazard vulnerability, it perfectly matches hazard
mitigation concerns. Its development objective is to
establish the basis for improved environmental
management by defining environmental policy reforms
and elaborating a national environmental management
programme. Primary concerns include curbing
deforestation and degradation of watersheds and
coastal zones.
Saint Lucia’s Integrated Watershed Management
Project was initiated in 1994 in response to damages
resulting from floods and landslides related to tropical
storm Debbie. Apart from pursuing structural
rehabilitation, it also supported the formulation of a
watershed management plan. This integrated project
has served as the basis for more integrated and
sustainable development of key watersheds and
strengthened the government’s capacity in
environmental management and flood preparedness.
Both projects are supported by the World Bank.
It supports the development of a policy framework
for integrated management and cost-effective
response to the impacts of climate change,
incorporating tools such as disaster contingency
planning.
In 1999, FAO developed a plan of action aimed at
helping SIDS meet the challenges of economic
change, environmental degradation and natural
disasters. The programme focuses on agricultural
trade, intensification and diversification of
agriculture, fisheries, sustainable management of
land, water and forestry resources and
strengthening national institutions.
The plan aims at improving disaster preparedness
by promoting measures to reduce the impact of
hurricanes and cyclones on agriculture and coastal
fisheries. It also helps countries assess their
national meteorological and hydrological services
and support early warning systems. A review of its
implementation has identified emerging needs and
constraints which will be discussed at a SIDS
conference planned for 2004.
The South Pacific Regional Environment
Programme (SPREP) has, for many years,
incorporated disaster-related activities into its
programme as part of its mandate to manage the
shared environment of the Pacific region.
Most activities have been part of the Regional
Climate Change Work Programme which
emphasizes the impact of extreme weather in the
Pacific region and the relationships between
climate change and natural disasters. SPREP is
also implementing the Pacific Island Climate
Change Assistance Programme which focuses on
vulnerability assessment and adaptation.
In order to realize the full potential of the
resources in the region, SPREP collaborates with
other organizations to expand its role in assisting
Pacific SIDS to integrate disaster management,
sustainable development and sound environmental
practices into national planning strategies.
Another SPREP project is the Integrated Coastal
Zone Management in the Pacific Islands, which
includes hazard mapping and the development of
disaster reduction strategies for coastal areas.
The Sub-Regional Action Programme to Combat
Desertification (SRAP) in West Africa and Chad
provides a strategic and programmatic framework
for integrating disaster reduction and management
into poverty reduction, environmental protection
and sustainable development planning in the area.
Two of the eight priority areas of SRAP focus on
enhancing sustainable management of shared
Box 5.8
A project in Bangladesh serving the
environment and disaster reduction
Undertaken by the Bangladesh ministry of environment
and forest, the Bangladesh Coastal Greenbelt Project
seeks to:
• prevent loss of life and damage to property by
cyclones, storms and associated tidal surges;
• protect and improve the coastal environment through
increased vegetation;
• help alleviate poverty by generating income through
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increased tree cover and related activities;
increase forest resources;
increase coastal embankment stability;
establish industries based on forest plantation;
increase multiple uses for land; and
create popular awareness about sustainable forest
management.
Source: Bangladesh State of the Environment Report,
2001.
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Box 5.9
Watershed management for disaster vulnerability reduction
Watersheds are necessary for agricultural, environmental, and socio-economic development. The physical and biological
resources of watersheds provide goods and services to human populations, including water protection, attenuation of natural
disasters by regulating runoff, protection of coastal resources and fisheries, protection of the environment and protection of
productive lowlands. Watershed management programmes need to build on existing environmental initiatives.
The following elements are required for successful watershed management:
• No permanent structures should be located in floodplains.
• All watercourses should have buffer strips.
• Intensive agricultural activity should not to be permitted on slopes greater than a specified percentage reflecting land
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capacity.
Clear cutting of forests should be limited with forest conservation and sustainable forest management stressed.
Institutional body should be formally established to address conflicts.
Public participation of both men and women should be stressed in management decisions.
Effective management plans and enforcement of environmental and zoning regulation are critical.
Regional environmental impact assessments are needed to ensure that cumulative impacts of economic activities are
sustainable.
The following elements are impediments to comprehensive watershed management:
• Inadequate economic valuation of environmental services.
• Inadequate institutional structure and appropriate land-use practices.
• Inattention to socio-economic issues contributing to poverty, a degraded environment and natural disaster vulnerability.
Several actions are needed to implement watershed management activities:
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Strengthen municipal authorities and their capacity to address land use and watershed management issues.
Establish a national management strategy.
Support sound land-use planning.
Ensure public participation in watershed planning and ecosystems protection, including gender concerns.
Support policies and market-based incentives that favour reforestation and sustainable forestry on steep upper
watersheds.
Promote participation of private sector through the climate change clean development mechanism.
Require downstream beneficiaries to pay for watershed services.
Support critical watershed protection and restoration of key ecological systems to mitigate disaster impacts.
Support local NGOs to clarify land tenure issues and facilitate access to land property by rural farmers.
Establish international watershed management frameworks.
Pursue a research agenda incorporating economic valuation of environmental services, innovative financing, analysis of
the relationship between land use and environmental management and the magnitude of losses from natural disasters.
Source: Watershed management for hurricane reconstruction and natural disaster vulnerability reduction, USAID, 1999.
water, plant and animal resources.
Furthermore, SRAP provides guidelines
for desertification control policies,
strategies and actions at the subregional
and national levels. In addition, it
provides a framework for cooperation
between various intergovernmental
organizations, such as the West Africa
Economic and Monetary Union, the
Permanent Inter-State Committee for
Drought Control in the Sahel and the
Niger Basin Authority.
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Institutional and organizational arrangements
Environmental policies require coordinated organizational
structures for their successful implementation. The
creation of new ministries responsible for the environment
and of high level interministerial advisory councils is still
relatively recent, having begun after the UN Stockholm
Conference on the Human Environment in 1972.
Almost all Caribbean countries have strengthened their
environmental administrative capacities and are integrating
environmental considerations into physical planning.
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Today, environment ministries exist in some 23
African countries and 11 Asian countries.
Environmental functions are sometimes
performed by other ministries such as housing,
planning, construction, land use, agriculture and
forestry. Coordinated organizational arrangements
minimize fragmented sectoral approaches.
Environmental management requires cooperative
solutions, cutting across many disciplines and
sectors. These involve community groups, NGOs,
the private sector, governmental institutions, the
scientific community and international
organizations, as does disaster management.
Therefore organizational frameworks in place for
environmental issues can be expanded to serve the
needs of disaster risk reduction as part of
sustainable development planning.
Integrating environmental considerations in other
policy domains could save resources. This would
require linking work in science, policy, environment
and vulnerability reduction. Implementation of
sustainable risk reduction measures requires
appropriate macro-planning to establish the critical
links between policy objectives and field
performance.
Intergovernmental programmes and networks
focusing on environmental and global change
issues can achieve integration and links. An
example exists in South Asia with the South
Asia Cooperative Environment Programme
based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This
intergovernmental organization promotes and
supports protection, management and
enhancement of the environment in the region.
It was established in 1982 by the governments
of South Asian countries including Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
<http://www.sacep.org>
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change
Research (APN) based in Kobe, Japan is
another intergovernmental network dedicated to
greater collaboration in the shared interests of
industrialized and developing countries in
matters related to global change Its primary
purposes are to foster global environmental
change research in the Asia and Pacific regions,
to increase the participation of developing
countries in research, and to strengthen links
between the science community and policy
makers in matters of global change.
Box 5.10
El Salvador Ministry of Environment and risk reduction
The impact of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and the earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001 led to an increased awareness at the El
Salvador Ministry of Environment about the relationship between development, the environment and disasters.
Favourable experience of collaboration among local community associations and NGOs in the Lower Lempa Valley Risk
Reduction Project provided organizational precedents for more direct involvement by the Ministry in risk and disaster
matters.
Following the 2001 earthquakes, it convened a committee of national and international experts to consider the creation of a
new technical agency to deal with risk management issues. The National Service for Territorial Studies (SNET) was created
in 2001 as an autonomous government agency with an annual budget of about US$ 2 million.
SNET has four divisions, three of which relate to monitoring the country’s geology, hydrology and meteorology. This is the
first time that these disciplines have been housed in the same institution in El Salvador. The fourth division deals with
integrated risk management issues and develops vulnerability and risk scenarios.
SNET breaks with the tradition of adding risk reduction issues to existing emergency disaster response or civil defence
plans. By expanding on the experience of the National Institute for Territorial Studies in Nicaragua, SNET may represent a
first step towards establishing a comprehensive risk management system that can serve as a model for other countries.
Guatemala has recently requested a feasibility study to consider a similar approach.
Another project, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in the Dominican Republic, is currently
considering a far greater role for the ministry of the environment which already has legal authority to act in the area of land
use and disaster reduction.
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APN activities are decided by an annual
intergovernmental meeting, and are supported by
a steering group and a scientific planning group.
APN member countries include Australia,
Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic
Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea,
Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United
States and Viet Nam.
<http://www.apn.gr.jp/>
came together to work out their contribution to
the implementation of the sustainable development
agenda. Major inputs that fed into one of the
ISDR background papers were drafted through
multi-stakeholder electronic forums. The added
value of a multi-stakeholder approach ensures an
increased sense of ownership and commitment for
collaborative actions plans.
Multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs) are one of
the recent innovations to promote dialogue to
achieve sustainable development. This dialogue
model was initiated in 1998 by the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development and has
since been adopted by other international forums.
Legislative frameworks for environmental impact
assessments (EIA) already exist and require the
commitment of governments, aid agencies and
civil society. They also depend on carefully
maintained monitoring processes.
MSPs aim to unite interested parties in
communication and decision-making based on
equality and accountability. They are also based on
principles of transparency and participation,
developing partnerships and strengthening
networks.
During the preparations of the World Summit for
Sustainable Development in 2002, stakeholders
Box 5.11
Viet Nam’s national plan for the environment
and sustainable development
The Vietnamese plan for the environment and
sustainable development provides a good example of a
comprehensive framework to address environmental
planning and management that integrates disaster
planning and mitigation. It has a wide variety of
components including appropriate organizational
structures, well-integrated environmental policies at the
sectoral level and environmental legislation. Priority
projects and programmes address improved methods of
data collection and management, environmental impact
assessment procedures and monitoring systems.
The mandate of the central environmental authority
covers the coordination of disaster management. The
plan also identifies opportunities for regional
cooperation in environmental management for
sustainable development that include disaster
reduction, combating the effects of climate change and
anticipated sea-level rise, integrated management of
watersheds, catchment areas and floodplains through
forest management, and soil and water conservation.
Source: Viet Nam national plan for the environment and
sustainable development, 1991-2000, framework for
action. <http://www.mekonginfo.org/>
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Environmental impact assessments
Risk reduction considerations could be further
assimilated into EIA. A more comprehensive EIA
could incorporate periodic vulnerability
assessments to take into account the dynamic
nature of vulnerability.
An expanded EIA process could provide a basis to
ensure that proposed initiatives would include
considerations of both disaster reduction and
environmental impacts. It is also one tool to
evaluate the extent to which climate change is
relevant to the sustainability of development
projects.
Further, it would allow for an assessment of
potential problems as well as benefits of disaster
risk reduction activities. Investment in mitigation
measures needs to be based on an assessment of
socio-economic and environmental consequences.
Disaster reduction specialists could use the EIA
model to reorient disaster impact assessments so
that they become a planning tool. A post-event
impact assessment is an assessment of damage that
has already occurred and is therefore not part of
the planning process. However, the results can
feed into future planning. Further collaboration
between disaster reduction practitioners and
environmental managers can generate better EIA
techniques for use in disaster reduction.
A well designed EIA process incorporating disaster
risk can be a key to encouraging the private sector
and individuals to consider what impacts their own
actions have on vulnerability factors.
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
Box 5.12
Environmental impact assessments
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a policymaking tool that provides evidence and analysis of
environmental impacts of activities from conception to
implementation. An EIA must include a detailed risk
assessment and provide alternative solutions. It needs
to be thorough and well documented and should
provide an opportunity for the public to participate in
accordance with the law.
An EIA report usually provides a detailed and rigorous
analysis on which authorities can decide whether to
approve a proposal and under which terms and
conditions. Once a particular project is selected, it is
monitored to ensure that conditions for approval are
adhered to and that the benefits from the EIA are
achieved. Monitoring, implementing and auditing within
the EIA process provides feedback to further
improvement.
However there is still some way to go before EIA
processes are fully mastered. A study carried out
by the Southern Common Market in South
America (MERCOSUR) on the use of EIA
showed that even though all three countries
concerned had adopted EIA as a preventive
environmental management tool, only Brazil had
developed significant experience in this area.
Furthermore, every emergency and rehabilitation
or reconstruction action should be subjected to
environmental impact assessment and
documentation. This will avoid the re-emergence
of inappropriate pre-disaster conditions.
analysis study and a disaster management plan.
The regulation specifies that the disaster
management plan should be prepared on the basis
of a risk analysis considering worst case scenarios
with respect to specific cases such as oil or
chemical spillage, fire, explosions, sabotage and
floods. It encourages green buffer zones whenever
possible.
As part of its environmental sustainability
programme, partnerships to mitigate natural
disasters in Viet Nam provide technical assistance
for integrating environmental considerations into
natural disaster mitigation plans. The relationship
between natural disasters and environmental
degradation is being studied and guidelines will be
produced for the environmental implications of
disaster mitigation projects.
Reporting on the state of the environment
As natural resources have the potential to reduce
disaster risk, it is vital to have a regularly updated
status of the environment, including emerging
issues on management legislation and
development. Some of the most relevant
monitoring and reporting systems include:
•
•
Examples of disaster reduction concerns being
integrated into EIA are scarce. The Caribbean
Development Bank (CDB) is asking its
borrowing member countries to include disaster
mitigation measures in a similar manner in its
EIA procedures so as to reduce risks associated
with investments in their development projects.
Furthermore one activity of the recently
established Disaster Mitigation Facility for the
Caribbean, a partnership of CDB and the Office
for Foreign Disaster Assistance/US Agency for
International Development (OFDA /USAID), is
the development of guidelines for natural hazard
impact assessment and their integration into EIA.
CDB will also modify its environmental review
guidelines.
In India, the regulation of environmental
clearances for port projects requires an EIA
report, an environment management plan, a risk
•
•
•
•
UNEP State of the Environment reports
undertaken in the context of periodic Global
Environmental Outlooks;
IUCN environment profiles;
State of the Environment reports for projects
financed by the World Bank and other funding
agencies;
Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) environmental
performance reviews;
UNCSD national reporting on implementation
of Agenda 21, national assessment reports and
country profiles; and
national communications required by the
conference of the parties of the international
climate change, biodiversity and desertification
conventions.
Reporting is a qualitative assessment tool and
provides a framework for policy analysis and
decision-making. Reporting facilitates the
measurement of progress towards sustainable
development.
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Box 5.13
The Global Monitoring for the Environment
and Security (GMES)
The Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security
(GMES) was launched by the European Commission
and a group of space agencies, including the European
Space Agency for an initial period of 2001-2003.
“The GMES initiative seeks to bring together the needs
of society related to the issue of environment and
security with the advanced technical and operational
capability offered by terrestrial and space-borne
observation systems.”
In compliance with the goals of the European Research
Area, the aim is to deliver to users a high level of
technical information about the environment. It also aims
to deliver guidelines (e.g. entire risk management
operational systems) in order to develop security
policies, including sustainable development policies,
protection from environmental threats and natural
disasters in Europe.
Continuous monitoring of resources and environmental
conditions, detection and assessment of changes and
hazards, and means for verifying the impact of policies
and practices are its three areas of focus. It is seeking to
become “the focal point of attention of a range of
stakeholders in various fields related to environment
monitoring.”
<http://gmes.jrc.it>
Efforts of countries to meet their environmental
and sustainable development goals are scrutinized
in order to improve their performance in
environmental management and develop
principles, guidelines and effective strategies to set
their priorities better.
Natural disaster concerns are prevalent in these
reports. Links between environmental
management and flood damage are most
frequently described. These reports can also
provide essential baseline and vulnerability
information on which to develop disaster
reduction policies.
Existing reporting guidelines could easily be
updated to include a requirement to systematically
report on the environmental features and resources
necessary to reduce disaster risks. The reporting
process could also record ways in which societies
mitigate risk through cultural adaptation and
appraisal of natural resources.
Environmental mapping, in which community
members are asked to locate relevant environmental
features and resources on a self-created map of their
territory, could be used for risk mapping, including
social data such as access to resources by specific
Box 5.14
Bangladesh state of the environment report
The Bangladesh 2001 state of the environment report prepared under the aegis of UNEP has a well-developed and detailed
section on natural disasters. The report describes in detail the disaster management bodies, their main functions and
responsibilities in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters.
It includes the following information:
• general introduction on the types of disasters affecting the country;
• pressures on the environment that exacerbate natural disasters including geographical settings, physical, hydrological and
environmental pressures;
• state of natural disasters: floods, cyclones, droughts, abnormal rainfall, hailstorms, lightening, tornadoes, earthquakes and
erosion;
• impact of natural disasters: climate change, agriculture, salinity intrusion, fisheries, ecosystems and biodiversity; and
• present and anticipated mitigation responses.
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Issue
Pressure/Cause
Impacts
Responses
Flood
Excess flow in monsoon
Improper infrastructure
development 92% of total
catchment area across border
Drainage congestion due to river
bed siltation
Deforestation in upper
catchment area
Disruption of communication
and livelihood systems
Loss of agricultural production
Disruption of essential
services
National economic loss
Loss of human lives and
biodiversity
Comprehensive Disaster
Management Plan (CDMP )
Flood Action Plan (FAP)
National Water Policy
Flood forecast and inundation
modelling
Dredging of river bed
Construction of embankments with
sluice gates
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
groups or household wealth. Community
involvement in mapping provides an occasion to
discuss resource management issues, particularly
with women highly involved as resource users and
knowledgeable about indigenous knowledge, social
networks and other capacities reducing
vulnerability.
The global environmental vulnerability index
developed by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience
Commission (SOPAC) complements state of the
environment reporting. It is a research tool to
understand the effects of environmental processes
and vulnerabilities, as well as the linkages between
environmental vulnerability and human welfare. It
is a tool for monitoring sustainable development
that will encourage environmental stewardship and
risk reduction policies.
Ecological and environmental economics
It is essential to obtain an accurate picture of the
socio-economic and ecological situation when
assessing a nation’s progress in achieving
sustainable development. Of the three interactive
spheres of sustainable development, the economic
considerations remain dominant. Proving that the
integration of disaster reduction with sound
environmental management makes economic sense
is a major challenge. So is the true valuation of the
ecological balance needed to enhance the
conservation of nature to reduce disaster risk.
Environmental economics utilizes the tools and
mechanisms of economics to measure the value
and costs of the environment in currency terms. In
conventional economic frameworks, natural
resources have been considered in terms of their
worth for human use. Beginning in the 1970s,
economic analyses to quantify socio-ecological
factors began to be adapted.
Environmental economics is now moving beyond
the interests of only academic research and
international organizations. Decision makers
worldwide have started to examine ways in which
socio-ecological values and costs can be measured
and incorporated in economic and political
discourse.
There are numerous national models, including
the older forms of National Resource Accounts,
Box 5.15
Relevant economic incentives and
disincentives
• Tax incentives, subsidies and loans to compensate
landowners or discourage certain land uses
• User charges, fees for downstream beneficiaries
•
•
•
•
•
(domestic water use, agriculture, hydropower, fishery,
recreation)
Transfer of development rights to avoid undesirable
development
Easements, legal agreement to restrict type and
amount of development taking place on a property
Land purchase and property rights, usually restricted
for exceptional lands (restricted land leases)
Fines and liability system for damages caused to
human settlements or environmental services
Pricing structures to discourage unsound use of
resources
National Systems for Environmental Accounting
and the System for Environmental Economic
Accounting.
These tools work to reduce fragmentation and
overlap of activities that have often resulted in
confused policies towards agriculture, tourism and
environmental management. Additionally, they
pose innovative opportunities to develop more
robust indicators of sustainable development.
Quantifying socio-ecological considerations is a
huge challenge for risk reduction and
environmental management practitioners alike. It
is also a challenge to get these concerns onto the
political agenda.
From a practical point of view, grants, funds, loan
guarantees and investment partnerships are some
of the tools countries can use to promote issues
that serve both environmental and disaster
reduction goals. Other creative options for
funding exist. Penalties used to reduce misuses of
environmental resources such as in the case of
wetlands destruction are also relevant. However
limitations of the “polluter pays” principle have to
be quickly overcome.
Money generated by trust funds for eco-services
under multilateral agreements can be used in
disaster reduction activities. The potential to use
creative environmental debt reduction strategies
can also be explored. Debt-for-nature swaps are
used to protect crucial natural resources and the
attributes inherently contribute to disaster
reduction.
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Innovative thinking to combine debt-for-disaster
reduction swaps and debt-for-nature swaps could
be initiated. This would help the poorest countries
implement disaster reduction activities as part of
their poverty alleviation strategies.
In a similar vein, other projects financed by the
World Bank introduce the concept of incentive
payments to realise a variety of environmental
services. In Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El
Salvador and Guatemala, projects have been
initiated in the areas of sustainable natural
resource management, watershed and forest
protection, conservation of biodiversity, reduced
vulnerability to floods, improved water quality and
reduced sedimentation.
Environmental codes and standards
Coping with environmental and natural hazard
risks will require better environmental and disaster
risk management. Avoiding economic losses
through improved environmental management
and performance is possible with the
implementation of Environmental Management
Systems (EMS) following procedures such as
those of the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO).
The ISO develops voluntary technical standards
which are believed to add value to all types of
business, administration and public utility
operations. ISO 14000 is a set of generic tools for
developing, implementing, maintaining and
evaluating environmental policies and objectives.
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They contribute to making the development,
manufacturing and supply of products and
services more efficient, safer and cleaner.
Organizations establish their own policies,
objectives and levels of ambition. These quality
standards constitute an approach of responsible
care, which combines safety and prevention of
technological disasters.
If upgraded to include disaster resistance,
standards for EMS could reinforce business
imperatives by demonstrating the application of
ISO 14000 to disaster reduction. This could be
achieved by including environmental auditing, life
cycle assessment, environmental labelling and
environmental performance evaluation in EMS.
ISO certification also provides an important basis
for communication with businesses, government,
financial organizations and environmental groups.
People at risk and the disaster community should
be added to this list.
If the certification process provides information
about the capability of an organization to achieve
its stated environmental objectives, it has the
potential to provide additional information on its
capability to reduce vulnerability to disaster risk
and achieve stated disaster reduction objectives.
Another benefit of certification is an expanded
scope for marketing. In the same way that green
or environmental labelling has emerged, disaster
resilience labelling could also be realized. Relevant
work in this area has started in Australia, for
example.
A selection of disaster reduction applications
5.1 Environmental management
5
Challenges
Future challenges and priorities
The main areas for future priority action are:
•
•
•
exploration of the links between environmental degradation and hazard and vulnerability;
identification and description of environmental knowledge that can be applied to reduce risk; and
economic valuation of environmental actions.
Disaster and environment practitioners could apply adapted tools resulting in a greater sense of
ownership and commitment. Capacities could also be developed for the increased use and regular
improvement of these tools.
To achieve this, development of a common language should be encouraged which fosters the exchange
of practices among experts in disaster management, environmental management, sustainable
development and economics. In this regard, innovative forms of communication should be explored.
Some adjustments in policy frameworks might be necessary to reflect this approach to disaster
reduction. Close collaboration would also be beneficial among institutions working on climate change
adaptation, biodiversity conservation, land degradation, wetlands management, sustainable
development and poverty alleviation. Finally, the integration of risk management with environmental
policy will require community participation.
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